[Elecraft] Use of Heathkit SB200 amp

[Don Wilhelm]

Jeff,

If an amplifier (any amplifier including the SB-200) is linear, and has 
a gain of 10 dB (for example), then 10 watts will produce 100 watts 
output, 15 watts goes to 150, 50 watts will produce 500 watts output, etc.

I am not familiar with the modifications to the SB-200 for the 
'reduction of drive', but if the unmodified or modified amplifier is 
truely linear, there should be no need for any additional work (see 
statement above).  OTOH, if the 'reduction of drive' mod increases the 
gain of the SB-200, then it may be useful unless it produces non-linear 
operation of the amplifier.

The input power required to drive the amplifier to *full* output is 
quite a different matter - I would not expect a 10 to 15 watt input 
would be capable of producing full output from the SB-200, but the amp 
certainly could be used as a gain block element and provide a good 
output signal.

73,
Don W3FPR

Jeff wrote:
> Hi all, this might be a dumb question, but the Heathkit SB-200 has several
> modifications that can be made to it, one of which is the reduction of drive
> power to excite it.
>
> Does anybody have any idea what the lowest power required to excite an
> SB-200 amp is?
>
> Without mods, it is around 100 watts, but I use to have one with the reduced
> drive mods, and I drove it with 30 to 50 watts for around 300 watts out.  I
> never tried testing the lower end with that mod. Though.
>
>